Loving Sai Ram and greetings from
Prashanti Nilayam. Today, we are giving you little stories sent to us by a
kind reader. We thought they were great stories with profound meaning. We
hope you would think so too.

YOU HAVE COME TO THE WRONG
ADDRESS

A Rabbi was delivering his lectures
on the Torah, the sacred Hebrew scripture, to a few young Jewish students.
One day in the course of their studies, they came across a line which said,
'The truly evolved person is only he, who continues to smile in the midst of
the greatest of difficulties.'

The young students had a problem in accepting this statement at its face
value. 'If we are truly in difficulty, how is it possible for us to smile
under such conditions?' they asked the Rabbi.

The Rabbi took off his spectacles and looked at his young pupils
thoughtfully. 'To be perfectly honest with you,' he said, 'I myself cannot
answer that question. The truth is that I, too, cannot smile when I am in
the midst of difficulties. At such moments, I seem to forget how to smile.'

Silence prevailed in the class as the teacher and the students pondered over
the issue. The Rabbi continued after a pause, 'However, I believe there is
someone who can give you the answer.' He proceeded to tell his students of
an old man who lived in their city, not far from the synagogue. He had been
an abandoned child - an orphan. When he grew up, both his legs were
paralyzed in an accident. His life had been a series of struggles, a saga of
pain and suffering. 'And yet,' concluded the rabbi, 'he always wears a
lovely smile! He is a wonderful human being. You must go to him and ask him
to answer our question.'

The students were amazed to hear of this brave man. In a group, they went
and knocked at his door. The door was opened by the man himself moving
briskly on a wheel-chair. He welcomed the young students cordially, and
asked them the purpose of their visit.

'Sir, It's this text we are discussing in the class,' said one of them
hesitantly. 'It's all about how one must continue to smile amidst the
greatest of difficulties in life. The Rabbi told us that you were the best
person to talk to.' 'Tell us please, sir,' added another. 'How do you
continue to smile amidst so much pain and suffering'.

'I'm afraid you've come to the wrong address!' replied the old man, with
genuine surprise. 'I am 73 years old, and in all these years I have never
had to face any difficulty! The Lord has always been good to me, and
protected me in His mercy. How can I teach you how to smile in the midst of
difficulties'. This was indeed a man who lived in close proximity with God!

In times of difficulties, don't ever say, 'God, I have a big problem!'
Instead say, 'Hey problem, I have a big God!' and everything will be all
right.

BOX OF KISSES

The story goes that some time ago, a
man punished his three-year old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping
paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to
decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next
morning and said, 'This is for you, Daddy.' He was embarrassed by his
earlier over reaction, but his anger flared again when he found the box was
empty. He yelled at her, 'Don't you know that when you give someone a
present, there's supposed to be something inside it'.

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, 'Oh,
Daddy, it is not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you.' The father
was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he asked for her
forgiveness. It is told that the man kept that gold box by his bed for years
and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and
remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as humans have been given a gold container
filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, friends, family
or God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.